FREE ESSAY ON MADAME BOVARY

MADAME BOVARY

Chris Irwin January 12,2001
Madame Bovary
The story starts as we see Charles Bovary entering a new school in the town of Rouen in
France. People laugh at him because he isn't sure what to do and how to act. He is the
son of a doting mother and a very strict father. Charles isn't sure what to do with his
life and therefore does as his mother advices him; to go to medical school. He fails at
first because he didn't work for it in class, but the second time he does and he passes
the exam and becomes a doctor in the town of Tostes. He is well liked in town because
people see him as a hard working man. Because he is still single and his mother thinks he
shouldn't be, she arranges a marriage only for the money with an ungly widow, Heloise
Dubuc. One day Charles is called to a farm because someone has broken his leg. On the
farm he meets Emma Rouault, the daughter of the farm owner. He likes her very much and
keeps coming back to her father to check up on his leg, even after his leg has fully
healed. They get on very well and they dicide to get married, even with protest of his
former wife which dies soon after because of a stroke. They arrange a huge wedding and
loads of people are invited to it. They party on for days and days and there's food
enough for a whole army. Because his practice isn't where the farmer lives, they return
to Tostes. And this is where are the misery starts for Emma. When Charles is out in the
country for house visits, Emma just sits at home doing nothing. All she does is read,
watch the rain and she used to play the piano, but quit because she feels that nobody
listened to her anyway. She hoped to get the love from her husband in the same way that
the main characters in the novels she read get love, but that doesn't happen. She is
bored to death. She is starting to get irritated by Charles' way of living and the way he
behaves sometimes. One day they go to a party of the maquis and there she meets the life
that she wants to live. She doesn't want Charles to dance because she feels that it would
embarras her and instead dances the night away with a Viscount and meets all the rich.
When they return back home, she becomes even more miserable because she misses all those
things now. Charles notices this and talks with another doctor and together they conclude
that a change of scenery might be good for her and they decide to move to Yonville. At
the time that they move, Emma discovers that she is pregnant. In Yonville, life isn't
that much different from the life she'd lived before, but now she meets someone who is
interested in the same things as she is; Leon Dupuis, a clerk. Emma is now close to
giving birth to a baby and she is hoping that it's going to be a boy so that he can be
strong and free, but her hopes are lost when it turns out that it is a boy; Berthe. As
time passes, Emma continues her life and finds out that she is in love with Leon, but
they don't start any relationship. Eventually, Leon moves to Paris to study there and
Emma is again left in misery. Rodolphe meets Emma and she really is attracted to her, but
in a sexual way; he thinks that Emma is beautiful. He manages to talk Emma into seducing
her and it works. Emma starts to get more and more interested in Rodolphe and they start
spending more and more time togeter, for example, they go to the agricultural show
together. Emma starts meeting him in secret and he even comes to their house where they
make love. Rodolphe decides that to keep the love going, he should leave for a few weeks
and that's what he does. And it seems to work, because after six weeks, Emma can't wait
to see him again. One day when Emma decides to go back to Rodolphe, she passes passed by
Bines, who knew that she had nothing to look for over that side of town because
Rodolphe's house was the last one there he knew that she wasn't supposed to be there, so
she just made a story and she hoped that he would fall for it. Now everytime that Charles
and she were somewhere and Binet was around, she would started acting rather strange and
Charles definately noticed it. But Charles thought that it was just again related to her
so called illness. Because Charles wants to keep up with the latest 'technologies' in
these days and because Emma encourages him to, he buys himself a book about how to cure
club-foots and finds it really interesting. He has this friend called Hippolyte and he
has a club-foot, so he decides to give it a try on him. But it fails miserabely and he
fears for his good reputation. Another doctor later has to be called in to amputate
Hippolyte's leg. Madame Bovary is in real money problems now, and because she can't take
it all any more and because she really loves Rodolphe very much, she wants to run away
with him. Rodoplhe isn't too sure about this and tries to first make her think decently
about it and when she says that she's curtain, he decides to stretch the date that they
are planning to leave as much as possible. He runs away from her and decides not to show
up as planned, so he writes her a letter explaining why she shouldn't run away and why he
also isn't going. So, Rodolphe writes her the letter, which he has great difficulty with.
He asks Girard to send it to her together with some fruit, and when she reads the letter,
she's so shocked and saddened that she becomes incredibly ill and almost dies of this.
The only thing she can do now is rest. Slowly she starts feeling better, but she's still
too weak to do anything. Again, as before, they still have the same bills to pay. This is
because Emma always had to have the latest of the latest and she never paid on the spot,
but she always put it on the bill and that bill was never paid. And now the medicaments
also have to be paid for... Charles thinks that a trip to the theatre would do Emma good,
because she's now strong enough to walk on her own feet. Emma really loves the play and
she constantly keeps on imagining that she is the main character and that she just could
fly away. When Charles goes out to talk to someone and comes back, he says that Leon is
also in the theatre. After the play, they all go out for a drink and they talk about how
everything's going and of course, Emma's health. Leon mentiones that there's another
performance on in two days. Emma would love to go, but Charles says that he has his work
waiting at home and that it's not possible for him to stay there. Leon makes an offer
that Emma can stay over here for two days and stay with him in Rouen. Charles thinks
about it and finally agrees to it. Leon is finally back again with Emma and they talk
about their sorrow and sadnesses and share it with eachother. They decide to meet up the
next day again at the church. The next day, Leon is there first and he decides to check
out the church. When he enters the building, the priest comes up to him and asks him if
he wants to have a tour of the building. Charles says no. Later on, Emma shows up and
again the priest comes up to her with the same question. Leon says no again, but Emma
says that she would love to. He gets really annoyed with the damn tour and calls a cab
and takes Emma with him. Many hours later, they stop in Beauvoisine district and Emma
steps out and enters the inn. Once in the inn, she get the word that she has to go to
Monsieur Homais as soon as possible. So she goes there and they tell her that Charles'
father has suddenly died. What has to be done now, is that all of the will has to sorted
out. They need a good lawyer, but not an expensive one and so they decide to call upon
Leon. He offers to go, but she says that it would be better that he keeps on eye on the
business and that she'd rather go on her own. So she leaves for Rouen for three days. She
of course has the time of her life in Rouen with Leon and they live their lives in Hotel
de Boulonge. Emma still thinks that she doesn't see Leon often enough and so decidedes to
take up the piano and will now (or at least she says) take private lessons in Rouen. She
visits Leon more often, and when they part again for the week, she's already longing for
the next Thursday that they will meet again. One day a man comes to their house and he
gives her a letter from Monsieur Vincart of Rouen with a bill of 700 francs. She said
that she would pay it next week. The next day she gets another letter from Maitre Haring
saying that she has to come to Monsieur Lheureux to pay all of the bills that she never
paid for. He wants the money now, but of course she doesn't have it. She was given a
piece of paper that said that she had to pay the money (8000 francs) within 24 hours
otherwise all of her belongings would be sold until the sum reached. Of course, she
wasn't able to pay all of this an the next day, when Charles went out, gentlemen came in
and took notes of all the things in her house. She didn't want this to happen, so she
went out to Maitre Guillaum. He was quite friendly and was willing to pay the money as
long as he could have her as a prostitute. She didn't want this and quickly ran out. Now
the only one that was left was Rodolphe. She came into his nice house with loads of
expensive stuff and when she asked for the money, he said that he didn't have it. She was
so incredibly angry, that she just took something, threw it away, ran out of the house
all the way to the pharmacist's shop, stuck her hand in a pot of blue stuff and swallowed
it. Charled had no clue where the hell she was hanging out and went looking for her. He
couldn't find her and when he came back home, there she was laying on her own. She wanted
to be left alone to let the poison work in slowly. And it did. She started feeling really
sick, throwing up like a maniac and getting weaker and weaker. Charles called all of the
best doctors and even he himself could do nothing. After a few hours, she passed away.
They finally prepare for the funeral. She got burried and Charles' saddnes was
unmeaserable. People started ignoring him at all costs, he had no friends left. One day,
Berthe wanted to play with him, she gave him a friendly push and he fell to the ground;
he was dead.